Auto top off. Any truth?

[offshore80]

I was looking into an automatic top off for my tank... err well that was until my lfs guy told me NO!!! He said in the salt water envirorment those are prone to go bad and cut on and never shut off. Giving you a fresh water tank when you get home from work. Is this bogus? I have the RO water plumbed to the sump with a manual valve now.

 

[rangermonroe]

Try doing a search in DIY. I don't use one myself, but I believe others have and have shared experiences in that forum.

 

[bbreaux1]

i have used a diy one for two years now and havent had any problems with it and have never cleaned it. it very easy to make just a relay from radio shack, a float switch from grainger, and a small extension cord got the plans from livinglava

 

[offshore80]

The lfs guy was infatic about it. So I thought I would ask. I don't want a time bomb hooked up to my tank. I'm plumbing a 175 and thought this would be the time to do it. I just want one less thing to have to worry about. I'm spinning plates on a stick as it is now with 3 tanks going.

 

[phoenixrising]

Originally posted by Offshore80
I was looking into an automatic top off for my tank... err well that was until my lfs guy told me NO!!! He said in the salt water envirorment those are prone to go bad and cut on and never shut off. Giving you a fresh water tank when you get home from work. Is this bogus? I have the RO water plumbed to the sump with a manual valve now.
Me thinks you got bogus advice from your LFS guy. I have been using a "Reef Filler" auto top off system for a long time now and it has never malfunctioned even one time. It only handles fresh RO/DI water, so nothing in there to gum up the system. The chances of it opening itself wide and running in 20 gallons of fresh water all at once are slim to none.
Not sure about your setup. I fill my top off reservoir (20 gal) from my RO/DI reservoir (40 gal) every few days. The Reef Filler then drips in the fresh top off water at whatever rate I lock into it. No float valve to stick. Totally self contained unit dependent on nothing else except electricity to operate endlessly and flawlessly. A bit noisy though.

 

[broomer5]

Anthing that is mechanical/electrical WILL fail eventually - there's no denying that.
It's just a matter of time vs how well the device is built and maintained.
Sounds as if your LFS person had a bad experience and is giving you his/her opinion .........which in this case is true.
To reduce the likelyhood of a failure, a redundent back-up system can be put into place.
Of course .. to further reduce the chance of failure, another redundent back-up system can also be put into place.
Where does it stop ?
Whatever is practical
Things fail in all environments.
The best we can do is to clean/maintain them, and test them now and then.
Sometimes even then .... they will still fail.
There's no practical way around it for most of us.